Ledwaba gets thumbs-up to take on Jordaan

There were no major surprises when the SA Football Association (Safa) yesterday confirmed the names of candidates cleared to challenge incumbent Danny Jordaan for the presidency at the organisation’s elective congress on June 25.

As expected, Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlabeng will have a shot at ousting Jordaan, who has been in office since 2013. Nomsa Mahlangu was deemed ineligible to contest for the presidency.

Safa governance committee chairperson Victor Mogajane handed over the names of the candidates to the association’s CEO, Tebogo Motlanthe, who then confirmed them at a media conference at Safa House in Nasrec, Johannesburg, yesterday.

There was a slight twist when Motlanthe revealed that Ledwaba, despite being legible to run for the presidency, was disqualified from serving on the national executive committee.

“For you to serve on the national executive committee you have to be nominated by the host region [your local region] as per article 25.9 of the Safa statutes,” explained governance committee member Shakespeare Hadebe.

“In Ria’s case, Safa Tshwane nominated her for the national executive committee and Ngoako [Mohlabeng] in Safa Tshwane was nominated for the presidency, so in that case, her [Ledwaba’s] host region is Safa Capricorn, that’s the only reason she’s not eligible to serve in the Safa executive committee.”

Mogajane revealed that Mahlangu, who couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday, was disqualified on the basis that she wasn’t nominated by a Safa region but by University Sport South Africa (USSA), which is a mere associate member of Safa.

Safa rules stipulate that candidates for the presidency must be chosen by the regions.

“Mahlangu was nominated by USSA, and in accordance with article 25.6 of the Safa statutes, her nomination by USSA was invalid. Association members are only permitted to nominate people for the national executive committee,” said Mogajane. 

Disqualified candidates have seven days to appeal with Safa’s ethics committee from the day of receiving the communique that they were not considered.

Meanwhile, Ledwaba could also not reached on her phones. Her campaign team member, Thabo Sephuma, told Sowetan she would only speak at a media conference billed for a yet-to-be confirmed venue tomorrow.